1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of water efficiency in waste disposal. In particular, the present invention relates specifically to a user controllable counter weight for a toilet flapper valve adaptable to different flapper designs and toilet arrangements.
2. Description of the Known Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, toilets and flapper valves are well known. Historically when one flushes a 1.6 gallon or larger gallon capacity toilet, the entire amount of the water in the toilet holding tank is used with every flush. The user cannot use less water than that held in the holding tank. As such, primarily in urine flush but occasionally in a feces flush as well, the amount of water uses is far in excess of what is needed to clear those materials down the trap as the majority of gravity fed flopper designed toilets will flush urine as well as some small amounts of feces with less water than that held in the holding tank and delivered during a regular flush.
Patents disclosing information relevant to flapper valves include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,661,438, issued to Nichols-Roy, et al. on Feb. 16, 2010 entitled Water saver fill valve and assembly. The abstract reads as follows: An improved fill valve has a pivot valve body that is pivotally suspended immediately below a float housing and is movable between two positions. In a first position, the pivot valve body blocks the flow of water from the float housing. In a second position, the pivot body allows the flow of water from the float housing. The pivot valve body has two top compartments, each separated from the other by a wall. The first compartment retains an amount of water in it. The second compartment functions as a water flow restriction apparatus and includes an upwardly-extending member for sealing off a check valve that is disposed within the bottom of the float housing. The fill valve also includes structural elements that allow the water to trickle into the float housing at a very slow rate. The fill valve can be re-set for normal toilet tank operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,194, issued to Shim on Jun. 1, 2004 entitled Dual capacity flush valve assembly for a toilet. The abstract reads as follows: A dual-flush flapper valve assembly, set for a normally short flush, is provided for use with a pivoting flapper valve in a flush tank. The assembly comprises a weight, which moves back and forth along a guide relative to the flapper's pivot point. The moveable weight, if activated, temporarily reduces the turning moment arm of the flapper for ensuring a long flush. The assembly further comprises an actuator to trap and release the weight, resulting in either a short flush (when the weight is remote from the pivot) or a long flush (when the weight is close to the pivot). The flapper assembly is engageable through a resistance force, for selectively triggering the actuator, shifting the weight and resulting in a long flush. After a long flush the assembly resets for a short flush, until activated once again.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,749, issued to Goesling, et al. on Oct. 19, 1999 entitled Adjustable flush valve. The abstract reads as follows: A pivotable toilet flush valve member (10) is provided, of the type that includes a float (40) with a pair of holes (44, 52) that allow the float to fill with water during a flushing to close early, and where the float can be turned to vary the amount of water used during a flushing, wherein the float is constructed for easy and loose mounting on a frame (12) and for low friction rotation about a primarily vertical axis (60), and where the flush valve member has a simple detent mechanism to hold the float at any rotational position to which it is turned. The frame has an aperture (74) lying along the primarily vertical axis, and the float has a small diameter upwardly extending projection (70) that projects upwardly through the frame aperture and that is held by the walls of the aperture, for low friction turning. The detent mechanism includes an upstanding wall (100) with an upwardly-open vertical groove (102) that has a plurality of teeth on at least one side of the groove. The frame has a downwardly-extending detent (92) with at least one tooth (111-113) that lies in the groove.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,110, issued to Richter on Jul. 14, 1992 entitled Selectable toilet-water-level flushing system. The abstract reads as follows: A selectable toilet-water-level flushing system (10) that allows a toilet user to selectively control the quantity of water that is used for a toilet flush. The quantity of water used depends on whether liquid or solid waste is to be flushed. For liquid waste, only a partial flush is necessary; for solid waste, a full-flush is used. The system (10) functions by performing a simple modification to the toilet flush valve (12). The modification consists of inserting into the valve opening a weight (16) that causes the normally buoyant valve to become non-buoyant. Since the valve is non-buoyant, the lifting of the valve from the valve seat (36) is totally controlled by the toilet flush handle (38) which, in turn, is controlled by the user. Typically, for a partial flush the handle (38) is temporarily held in its depressed position for two seconds while for a full flush, it is held for four seconds. Over a period of time, by using partial flushes a large savings of fresh water can be realized.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,773, issued to Sullivan on Dec. 13, 1983 entitled Adjustable tank discharge valve for controlling flush water volume. The abstract reads as follows: A discharge valve closure of the type which has a bleeder port to permit the conservation of water by causing the closure to shut the discharge valve prior to the draining of all water from the water tank. The discharge valve closure features an adjustment which permits at least a portion of the buoyancy chamber to be pivoted about the axis of the closure to position the bleeder port at a selected angular spacing from its top dead center position. This adjustment allows the tank water level at which the closure shuts off the discharge valve to be adjusted.
Each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Each of these constructions requires modification to the original manufacturer's design or replacement of components within the toilet. In contrast to these devices, the present invention allows one to convert the original single flush toilet to have the capability to function as a dual flush system for the purpose cutting the amount of water needed during flush modes without modifying the original flapper or toilet construction. Thus, the prior art has addressed the dual flush issue, but has failed to recognize the multiple different constructions of sizes and flapper valves in the multitude of original gravity fed flopper toilets. Thus the prior art has failed to provide a standard fix for the multitude of different flapper valve and drain size constructions.